Night
by Keaide MiKu
Summary: It's been a year since the Dark Tournament ended, but every night, Shizuru still goes through the pain of losing her beloved. Shizuru x Sakyo. Angst. Rated PG for mild language.


**Disclaimer: The only thing Yu Yu Hakusho-related that I own is one Hiei stamp and three posters. That's it. Sadly. **

Welp this is my first YYH fic and also my first (and most likely last) ever hetero-fic. So no warnings on this one. I couldn't really think of a good title, so I just came up with Night. shrugs It fits, I suppose. Anyway, I keep seeing all these Shizuru x Botan or Shizuru x Keiko or even Shizuru x Koenma fics which just plain freak me out. People like weird pairings. And then all the Shizuru x Sakyo fics I've ever read involve Sakyo coming back to life! Where's the fun in angst if he's alive? This also happens to be my first angst fic, too. So, enjoy, critique, flame, comment, whatever.

* * *

It hurt, still, after all this time. It had been almost a year since it happened, but the pain was still there. During the day, it hid itself, just a dull ache, as she went about her daily business, acting normal, keeping her mind off of darker thoughts... 

It was nights like these, when she was all alone in the house, that Shizuru suffered. The pain came back in almost unbearable levels, like a raw wound—healed slightly, then viciously reopened.

She could still remember his face, every detail standing out in a sharp clarity. That long, pale face. The silky blue-black hair. Those lucid blue eyes (1)...and the prominent scar slashed over his right eye. The stunning elegance portrayed in his crisp black suit and tie, and his aloof manner...

Her mind flashed back to when they had first met. Her memory brought the scene back to awareness, as if she were reliving it all over again...

"_If they keep doing this, Yusuke is going to die!" Keiko cried._

"_Well, he already has once..." Shizuru pointed out._

"_Shizuru!"_

"_Sorry, sorry," she apologized._

_Keiko stood up. "I have to stop this!" Turning, she ran out of the stadium._

"_Keiko-chan!" Shizuru ran after her. "Where are you going?"_

_Turning into a corridor, Keiko was nowhere to be seen. Shizuru looked down the hallway, but all was dark. Sighing, she muttered, "Keiko-chan, of all the..."Shaking her head, she walked on. _

_In the "empty" corridor, four pairs of eyes glittered. The owners of the eyes cackled maliciously, and slowly began to tail Shizuru. Sensing something, she turned, and beheld four demons._

"_It's a human!" one of them exclaimed._

"_It's dangerous to be walking around alone, missy!" another scolded. _

_Whirling around, Shizuru ran down a passage, into a wide chamber. The demons following, laughing excitedly. When she reached the center of the room, she looked around, panting. She heard the demons behind her, and started forward again, when someone pulled her hand._

"_Come on!" As they ran, all Shizuru could see was shiny dark hair, reaching halfway down a suit-clad back. Her rescuer tugged her around a corner. _

"_This way! Hurry!" Hiding behind a pillar, they watched as their pursuers ran past. Shizuru sighed in relief, then turned to the stranger. He had a handsome face, lit by a small smile. _

"_Are you...human?" she asked tentatively. _

"_Be careful. This is the Youkai's world," he warned, then turned and walked away. _

_Shizuru stared at his retreating figure, watching even as it vanished into the distance._

In the excitement that followed, she had almost forgotten about him. Even as she gasped, and her mind numbed as she witnessed her brother and her friends fight for their lives, even as she saw them struggle to overcome their opponents, a tiny part of her brain wondered if she would ever meet the dark-haired stranger again.

And she had, to her shock, as his identity was revealed as Sakyo, the sponsor of Team Toguro, the most dangerous opponents her brother and his team would face. Strange that she could be so captivated by someone she barely knew, and only knew as the man she ought to have hated, the man who wanted the ones she loved to die.

Then there was the bet. Barely recovered from the shock of his identity, her mind reeled once more as he wagered his life against the victory of Team Urameshi. Her head was shocked, and her heart torn. If Team Toguro won, then the chances of survivors on Team Urameshi were few. But if Team Urameshi prevailed, then Sakyo would forfeit his life...even as these thoughts ran through her mind, she felt guilty for putting a stranger in front of her brother and her friends. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sakyo and Toguro leaving the stadium. Coming up with an excuse, she quickly left to follow them.

"_I killed all the board members." Toguro said to Sakyo. (2)_

"_It's for show." Sakyo lit a cigarette. "With things like this, it makes everything more tense." He smiled. "Coming to this point at last...it's been a long road."_

_Shizuru listened as Sakyo revealed his past to Toguro. How he had been in a family of 5 civil servants, but was always fascinated by blood and gore. He talked of his past dismembering animals, until he settled upon humans. Then of his penchant for gambling, how he had bet his life four times so far but never lost...at the end of the narrative, Toguro and Sakyo returned to the arena, where the announcer was exclaiming over the agreement of the board members. _

_And so the battle between Team Toguro and Team Urameshi began. _

Slowly, agonizingly, Shizuru was drawn back to her last memory of him...the memory of his death.

_The battle was over. Toguro had been defeated._

"_Yusuke won!" Botan cried exuberantly. As Koto and Juri repeated the announcement to the stadium, Shizuru bowed her head. Yes. Yusuke had won. The bet was lost. As she slowly accepted this fact, she caught sight of Sakyo walking towards the center of the arena. She watched, entranced, as he said something to Team Urameshi, then pulled out a small device and pushed a button. _

_With this little motion, the entire stadium began to shake. Shizuru and the rest of the audience gasped as one as it was made clear that in fifteen minutes' time, the stadium would explode. Mass panic ensued, and the stadium rumbled ominously. Shizuru saw the black form that was Sakyo calmly walk out one of the stadium doors, and she hastily stood up and followed. Botan and Yukina were too engrossed in trying to revive Keiko to notice her absence. _

_She ran after him, trying to keep sight of his shadowy silhouette. Coming to a flight of stairs, she braced herself against the wall and descended one step at a time. Hearing voices, she headed toward the sound. _

"..._that is my dream. It will be destroyed with me." Hearing this last sentence, Shizuru rushed into the room, and stood in the doorway. Sakyo stood, talking with Koenma. _

_Wordlessly, she advanced, a question in her eyes as she searched Sakyo's face. He looked at her, surprised, for a moment, then smiled. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a gold and black cigarette lighter. He gazed at it for a moment, clear blue eyes unreadable. Then, smiling to himself, he tossed the lighter at Shizuru, who caught it with surprise. Looking at the object in her hand, realization flashed and she looked up in disbelief. _

_Smiling wryly, Sakyo lifted a hand and waved. At that instant, the roof collapsed, sending blocks of rock crashing to the ground. _

"_Sakyo-san!" she cried, rushing forward, only to be stopped by Koenma. _

"_Stop!" he exclaimed, holding her back. _

"_See you," Sakyo said, his hand still held in a parting gesture. A chunk of rock hurtled towards him, and he was lost in the dust. _

"_Sakyo-san!" she screamed, tears spurting from her eyes. "Sakyo-san!"_

"_Shizuru, we have to go!" Koenma turned and dragged her with him, leaving Sakyo behind, forever. _

Sakyo. He was the one who had entranced Shizuru from the start, the one that had rescued her from demons. The one she had unwittingly given her heart to. And he was gone now.

And she had just let herself be dragged away. Taken from him, from death, to live. But was this any better? This nightly torment of remembering what little she knew of him, of knowing she would never get to know more?

Her heart gave a painful throb, clenching in her chest, the way her hand clutched the lighter she kept under her pillow, kept with her at all times.

_Heart? _she thought bitterly. _Does this hole, this emptiness I feel, count as a heart? _

_Damn you, Sakyo. Damn you for taking my heart and leaving this bottomless void. _

With heart-wrenching sobs, the way she had every night for almost a year, Kuwabara (3) Shizuru cried herself to sleep.

* * *

(1) Well according to some places Sakyo's eyes change color, so right now I'm sticking with blue, because those are the prettiest. XD

(2) Translations for this part are kind of icky, because I watched a version with subtitles that were translated from Japanese to Chinese to English, so I kind of modified them to what I think made sense.

(3) Thanks to Magus Black for correcting her name from Kazuma to Kuwabara...in a flash of stupidity I thought Kazuma was Kuwabara's last name...-.-;

Well, I had lots of fun writing this fic. Keep watching for later YYH fics, probably more angst and definitely shonen-ai/yaoi pairings.


End file.
